The Basics

Even though I failed to begin at the beginning when I began this blog, now is a good time to begin again. Especially since most Americans seem to be totally at a loss about New Zealand.  Many not even sure which side of the globe we are on.  Sometimes, even the map makers forget to put us on the world map so maybe that is why?

A world map with New Zealand on it--see us over there on the right?

South Pacific

Though NZ is full of many Europeans, NZ is NOT in Europe. 

Though located in close approximation to Australia, NZ is NOT part of Australia.

New Zealand, though very small, is indeed a country in it's own right. Like Australia, we are "down under" which means when you are holding a regular globe, NZ is on the bottom part. Down at the bottom, under the curve. Close to Antarctica.

Like the musical, we are in the South Pacific. But don't have any  illusions, the entire South Pacific region is not a tropical paradise. Well, it really is except for us. In fact, for us, only the northern tip of the North Island (Northland) would be sub tropical. The rest of NZ is actually pretty chilly. We have penguins and seal colonies. We are close neighbors with Antarctica (only 3932 km away--or 2443 miles but you really need to learn metric if you are going to live here).  

We are in "close proximity" to Australia but, contrary to popular belief, we can not just ride a ferry across the Tasman Sea.  It looks close on a map but it is 2153 km (1338 miles, you still really, really need to learn metric).  It is a 3 hour flight from NZ.  But it is a relatively cheap vacation for us!  Kiwis vacation there because it is HOT  and we get really cold here with no insulation or heat. (So cold that we are willing to brave the perilous beasts of Oz) Even the water at Australia beaches is warm and delightful. NZ beaches are cold. Beautiful but really cold. Even in summer.  Of course, like everything Australian, the beaches are also infested with man eaters. They have Great White sharks and stinging jelly fish and salt water crocodiles. So yeah, Australia is warm but it kind of sucks because of all the things that can kill you. At least that is why I didn't want to live there and chose NZ instead.

In addition to Australia, we are surrounded by a variety of very tropical paradise locations such as Fiji, Tonga, Samoa where we can vacation.  But it's not like hopping a weekend trip to Mexico, airfares are exorbitant. I imagine it is cheaper to fly there from the US than from NZ for some reason.  I now consider our close proximity to these paradise locations to be cruel and unreasonable.

Nations of the South Pacific  ^ there we are at the bottom

Hopefully, you can find NZ on a globe now.  Let's get to a discussion of the actual country itself. New Zealand is comprised of two main islands (and some minor islands as well).  The north island is named North Island.  The south island is named South Island.  I hope you will be able to remember that!  Sometimes, the South Island is called the Mainland, usually by South Islanders.  It has everything to do with physical size and nothing to do with population centers.

Total New Zealand population is about 4 million.  The North Island is home to about 3 million of those people with 1.3 million centered in the Auckland area.  If you like the "big city," this is the biggest we can offer.  Wellington, the capital city with the Beehive, has about 390k people.
Meanwhile, the major city in the South Island is Christchurch which also  had about 390k people before the earthquakes. I have no idea of how many rearranged themselves due to all the drama.  The other @ 600k Kiwis in the South Island are spread amongst the towns and out in the "wop wops" (far out rural areas).  All of this data is from the last census in 2006 as the 2011 census was canceled due to the February 22 quake. It's all a guess at this point.

New Zealand

Oh, my! Look at all the volcanoes!

The North Island is a volcanic island, meaning it was formed by a volcano spewing lava.  The bad news is that there are still volcanoes under there. Super volcanoes actually. And 2 of the largest volcanoes to ever erupt in the history of the world lie dormant under the feet of the North Islanders.  We have active, dormant and extinct volcanoes here in NZ with almost ALL of them under the North Island. Heaps of them.  Here is a big long list of Kiwi-canoes.  And Rotorua has all that freaky volcano landscapes--including boiling pools and the sulphur smell that they have turned into a tourist destination.

Mt. Taranaki

Plate boundaries

On the other hand, the South Island was formed by two plates smashing into one another. The Pacific plate and the Indo-Australian plate boundaries are what forms the magnificent Southern Alps mountains that run the length of the South Island.  We do have a bit of volcano action down here called Banks Peninsula. It is the little, uh, peninsula that sticks out on the east side of the South Island.  There were 2 dormant volcanoes there at some point.  After the earthquakes in Christchurch, the fear mongers circulated rumors of sulphur smells and pumice in Lyttleton Harbor.  I have no idea if any of that is true. But I hope not.

The Southern Alps from the Canterbury Plains

All of the volcanoes and earthquakes aside, New Zealand is gorgeous! It's a great place to live. Honest!